Managing solid waste effectively has become a burden for many countries especially thedeveloping and the least developed ones. Policies are made as guidelines for various actorsin the waste management sector to implement, but implementation also comes withresource availability and the capacity of the actors to ensure their roles in the policy areachieved. This research focuses on the actors in the solid waste management in twoassemblies of Ghana: the New Juaben Municipal Assembly and the Accra MetropolitanAssembly. The study explores the capacity of the stakeholders in these two study areas inrelation to their roles in the Environmental Sanitation Policy of Ghana, looking at theircurrent practices in solid waste management. A seven weeks field research in Ghanainvolving the use of semi‐structured interviews, informal interviews, snow‐ball sampling,participant observation and focus group discussion with actors within the solid wastemanagement sector, provided for the data of the study. The study identifies somechallenges of these actors and gives recommendation of some issues which would requirefurther research.

This thesis is based on a field study conducted in Ghana's capital Accra between September and November 2010 where data, in the form of inter alia interviews with Ghanaian university students, was collected. The underlying aim for the study is to gain a deeper understanding for the many times troublesome nation-building process in the African context. The thesis' objective then is to gain a deeper understanding of a part of the "successful" Ghanaian nation-building process and the national identification in Ghana via the concept of national self-images: the affective and cognitive views of the own nation and people. The Ghanaian national identification is explored via the concept which here is divided into two wide dimensions (the Temporal and Relational - primarily based on the works by Bo Petersson and Noel Kaplowitz) and the data is then organised and analysed according to these. The national self-images are further divided into positive respective negative images with presumably disitnct influences on national and political stability. The result from this study is is that the interviewed university students hold predominantely positive images of their own nation, people and polity which may indicate a continued support for the nation-building process. Howeer also osome negative images exist which could hold the potential threat of weakening the support and trust for the national project among the students.

Women are increasingly being recognised internationally as essential actors in successful water supply management. Despite this, women are nevertheless still being excluded from water management activities which have proved to frequently result in water project failure. This has great consequences for water supply and water distribution capacity and efficiency. Women‟s exclusion often stems from traditional and deeply rooted gender differences where women, compared to men, are not given the same rights and opportunities. Therefore, in particular focuses in this study are cultural barriers and socio-economic obstacles and challenges that may hinder female participation. Although Ghana is considered to have rich water resources, the production, distribution and use of water is not efficient, sufficient, or sustainable. This impedes the country‟s socio-economic development. Most affected are women and children as they are often directly linked to the water source through their role as water collectors. In relation to this, the study investigates the importance of women‟s participation in water management within the Republic of Ghana. Furthermore, the study examines the efficiency and adequacy of measures and actions implemented to improve female participation in water supply management.  For data collection, a case study approach was adopted including an in-depth literature review, interviews with essential actors in Ghana and document analysis of Ghana‟s National Water Policy and National Gender and Children Policy. Interviews and documents were analysed with a content analysis and a comparative analysis approach.  The study found that women in Ghana, despite acknowledging their important role in Ghanaian water „society‟, experience great limitations in their participation in water management. Traditional norms and practices constitute a major obstacle together with a strongly male-dominated society that often prevents women from participating in the public sphere. The study indicates that there is a need to reform the legal system and the procedures of enforcement to encourage female participation in the water management. Furthermore, the Government of Ghana ought to improve financial, human, and material support within its agencies and associates to facilitate and enable female involvement. Moreover, there is a great need to improve women‟s rights to, and attendance in, education. Additionally, raising the awareness of gender and women‟s issues in general is crucial in order to initiate changes of traditional norms and practices and consequently improve their participation in the water management. By reforming Ghanaian women‟s situation, their role and status will be strengthened, not only within water management, but as well in the wider society.

Proefschrift Amsterdam VU. / Bibliogr.: p. [279]-284. - Met noten, samenvatting in het Engels en Nederlands.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göttingen, 1979. / Cover title: Strukturanalyse traditioneller und moderner Herrschaft in Ghana. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 497-539).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. of Anthropology. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 250 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-241).

Thesis (M.A.)--Columbia International University, 2001. / Abstrakt. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110).

Within the field of international development there has in recent years been an emerging interest to explore how secular and faith-based modes of development may interact. Yet there remains a considerable knowledge gap in how religious values, believes and practices may challenge, accommodate or complement secular development agendas. Against this backdrop, this thesis aims to make a small contribution to move our understanding onwards. Based on fieldwork in Apam, Ghana, my project illustrates how an individual may navigate between Pentecostal ideology, secular development discourse, and traditional believes and practices in contemporary Africa. More specifically, I employ theoretical insights from the anthropology of ethics to analyse how a young Christian man constructs his ethical identity while aspiring to shoulder the headship of his family, and being a promotor for gender equality and women empowerment in his community.

This study explores the effect of two NGO empowerment programs on the lives of women in urban slum communities of Ghana and India. In particular, the research aims to understand whether and to what extent economic empowerment through microfinance and skills training addresses women’s basic need and gender inequality in contexts of urban poverty. Considering the centrality of “empowerment” to collective feminist politics as well as development policy and practice, the purpose of this study is to contemplate what “empowerment” actually means from the perspective of those actively engaged in the process. Based on the survey and interview responses of program clients, this project explores the depth and scope of NGO empowerment interventions and considers steps that can be taken to further women’s empowerment. / text